In July 2012 the Commission published its proposal to review Regulation 443/2009 which sets CO2 emission targets for new passenger cars. This proposal includes incentives for the sales of ultra-low carbon vehicles through so-called super credits. Germany has suggested significant changes to the Commission proposal. This briefing assesses the impact of the German proposals and compares them to other available solutions.

This paper is a response from Transport & Environment to the ‘Consultation on structural options to strengthen the EU Emissions Trading System’ (ETS) by the European Commission. The response focuses on the fourth (‘d’) of six options proposed – extension of the scope of the ETS to other sectors - with a special focus on extending the scope of the ETS to road transport. T&E strongly opposes this idea, as it will not deliver economic benefits and will seriously jeopardise emissions reductions in transport.

In July 2012 the Commission published its proposal to review Regulation 443/2009 which sets CO2 emission targets for new passenger cars. The Environment Committee leads the deliberations in the European Parliament and Thomas Ulmer (EPP) has been appointed rapporteur. This briefing appraises proposals within his report&nbsp;and quantifies how these could lead to a weakening of the target in excess of 10g, raising the target to more than 105g/km.

Ahead of the noise vote on February 6, UK MEPs are being heavily lobbied to vote against noise standards by Land Rover, complaining that they can't comply with proposed limit values. Dutch consultancy TNO researched data in the official vehicle noise database and discovered that not only will Land Rover be able to comply, but most of their models already do!If Land Rover need some extra help achieving tighter noise standards, they could easily cut some dB by replacing their extremely noisy tyres (75dB) with equivalent quieter ones (72dB), which would also save fuel (see attached image - courtesy of http://www.kwik-fit.com/tyre-search.asp).

The EU has set a legally-binding target for new cars to emit no more than 95 grammes of CO2 per kilometre (g/km) by 2020. The target for vans is 147g/km. In July 2012, the European Commission announced its proposals on how these targets should be met. These proposals are currently being considered by the European Parliament and Council. The Commission did not propose further standards for 2025.This briefing outlines the arguments for setting strong 2025 targets and explains why industry arguments for delaying these targets are unfounded and would set back progress. It is based on new research by consultancy Ricardo-AEA (also downloadable in this page) as well as other evidence.

In 2009, the EU set legally-binding targets for new cars to emit 130 grams of CO2 per kilometer (g/km) by 2015 and 95g/km in 2020. In July, the Commission announced the outcome of its review of the modalities (ways) of achieving the 2020 target. The regulation takes account of the “utility” or purpose of the cars produced by different manufacturers whose targets therefore vary. In 2009, the EU agreed to account for the utility of the vehicles and set targets for individual manufacturers by comparing the average weight (mass) of the cars they produce. This was largely because data was not available on the average size (footprint) of registered cars until 2011. The Commission’s new proposal is to continue to use mass as a measure of utility until 2020 in order to minimize changes to the regulation.